From Sweet Dunleary to Dalkey Hill

Kingstown Harbour

1

Ye bucks and ye rakes from foreign nations,

That roll through cities and seaport towns,

It is concerning our spacious harbour,

Its worthy praises I mean to sound.

Sweetly arrangements and well situated,

With a rising view from the lovely quay,

Where you may observe all the mariners arolling,

And topsails aquivering in the happy bay,

2

The sloping hills and the purling rills,

Which the buck strides over from dread of hounds.

Their cries rebounding, through the valleys resounding,

While the hare runs straight in it's merry rounds,

The smiling angler is gently sporting,

The fishing pole bends with right goodwill,

While the trout and salmon in shoals are swarming,

From sweet Dunleary to Dalkey hill.

3

It would delight you of a summer's morning,

To see the pleasant drovers without whips or goad,

Make the pebbles rattle as the willing cattle,

With pleasure stroll down the metal road.

The honest stewards to both man and master,

Would bear assistance to work and toil,

Push round the can boys and we'll be drinking,

To Jenkins, Fay and brave John Doyle,

4

When George the Fourth his royal majesty,

The Lord Lieutenant and his nobles all,

And swarms of gentry from lands aplenty,

To Erin's isle were pleased to call,

To view towers and buildings, and grand amusements,

From the tayhouse down the lovely quay,

There was music sounding and joys unbounding,

As in triumph and grandeur we spent the day. 

5

We are preparing a mostdelightful harbour,

Which will be completed in a few short years,

May the Lord protect our grand employer,

Our stewards, our labourers and great engineers.

Kind fortune prosper our honest master,

By land or by sea, for his contracts sure,

He is a friend and credit to our Irish nation,

And a benefactor to all the poor.

6

I have heard great boasting and topers toasting,

Stout Captain Evans, who laid the plan,

And how brave Nevil drew the water level,

To the bounding river called the Grand Canal,

But I'll speak of Rennie, that high inspector,

And brave Aird & Thomas, whose famed renown,

And of noble Smith that's our grand employer,

Well situated in sweet Kingstown.

7

I have roved from Mallow to sweet Killarney,

Thro' Shelton Abbey and by Avoca's side,

Through Moneymore town and dazzling Courtown,

And Colonel Talbot's of Malahide.

To the grand O'Neill's in County Antrim,

To Poulaphooka and great Burton Hall,

And in all my ranging throughout this nation,

Noble Dunleary exceeds them all.

Luke Cheevers, Niamh Parsons and Fergus Russell

Photo Credit: Margaret Brown Dublin Gazette Newspapers

As part of the popular One City One Book events held in the County Hall in April to celebrate 'If Ever You Go: A Map of Dublin in Poetry and Song' (Dedalus Press,2014) we were delighted to hear a 200 year old ballad about Dún Laoghaire brought to life by Fergus Russell of An Góilín Singers Club. 
Fergus, along with fellow traditional singers Luke Cheevers and Niamh Parsons, entertained all present with songs and ballads of the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire area. Their event was entitled 'From Sweet Dunleary to Dalkey Hill' and Fergus found the lyrics to the ballad of this title during research he carried out in Trinity College Dublin. He found it in their collection of broadsheets and a more extensive version of the song can be found in 'Irish Minstrelsy: Being a Selection of Irish Songs, Lyrics and Ballads'. (Edited by H.Halliday Sparling and published in London in 1888). 

https://soundcloud.com/dlr-soundcloud/from-sweet-dunleary-to-dalkey-hill-ballads-song-niamh-parsons-luke-cheevers-and-fergus-russell

As we approach the 200th anniversary of the early days of the harbour project, find out further information about many of the characters mentioned in the song in Rob Goodbody’s 'The Metals from Dalkey to Dún Laoghaire', Pat Walsh’s 'Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown' both available from our libraries at :
http://libcat.dlrcoco.ie/
and search:
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/